Our Lions meet their Lions

Our Lions meet their Lions

Great Britain and Birmingham’s Lions, Jemma Nixon and Nena Killick, have just spent their morning rubbing shoulders with players from the Detroit Lions (as you do!)…the team being over here in the UK ahead of their clash with the Atlanta Falcons, on Sunday, at Wembley, but also to help promote the NFL’s Play 60 campaign (which aims to help “make the next generation of youth the most active and healthy” yet).

Acting as advocates for the British American Football Association (BAFA), NFL UK and assisting superstars such as QB Matthew Stafford as well as the icon that is Wide Receiver, Calvin “Megatron” Johnson, the ladies, alongside their male and junior-Lion counterparts, helped deliver skills and drills sessions at a busy school’s event in Surrey…in fact it’s been two days on the trot for these Lions’ as they also assisted the Atlanta Falcons, with a similar event, at Bushey Meadows Elementary School, on Monday.

“It’s been a great experience” commented Nixon, “the players from both teams were really accommodating, great with the kids and it was fantastic to see so many people involved and excited about football in this country.”

Whilst the Falcons can be excused from being a little tired – turning up en masse straight from the plane and straight from a heavy defeat by the Baltimore Ravens – without any bias at all, it’s fair to say that the Lions’ name-sakes rocked our gals’ socks: “…they were brilliant” offered Lions’ Safety Killick, “really fun, positive and great with not just the kids but with us too, in fact quite a few of the players came up to us throughout the day to ask us about our involvement, and were really impressed that we played football, especially for GB.”

Players like Tight End Jordan Thompson who tweeted a special thanks to the ladies twitter account, and Calvin “Megatron” Johnson, who was nothing shy of the “the ultimate gentle giant” – “he was ace” commented Killick who worked with Johnson, Kicker Matt Prater, D-End Larry Webster and D-Tackle Caraun Reid “…I had to knock them into shape a bit” joked the Lion, “…but these guys were fun to be around and it was something a little extra special to lead a “123 Lions” call, for obvious reasons.”